


The Best Understanding of Their Differences

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Polychrome Heroics [3]
Category: Polychrome Heroics
Genre: Awkwardness, Bonding, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26226193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: Calliope and Vagary are slowly growing closer.
Relationships: Calliope/Vagary
Series: Polychrome Heroics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/176663
Kudos: 6
Collections: August Intimacy 2020





	The Best Understanding of Their Differences

**Author's Note:**

> This poem came out of the August 4, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from LJ users Ng_moonmoth and Rix_scaedu. This poem belongs to the [Calliope](http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/calliope.html) thread of the [Polychrome Heroics](http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/polychrome-heroics.html) series.
> 
> It also fills Row 1 in [my 8-1-20 card](https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12611270.html) for the Five Moments of Intimacy Bingo fest.
> 
> PHYSICAL  
> phasing through solid objects
> 
> SECRET  
> gender issues
> 
> EXPERIENTIAL  
> take a class together
> 
> VULNERABILITY  
> confession and forgiveness
> 
> EMOTIONAL  
> two-way teasing, both enjoy it

**[Thursday, October 29, 2015]**

The kittens were soggy, and clingy,  
and every color of candy in the bag.

Calliope had a pink one on her head,  
two blue ones cradled to her chest, and  
a purple tabby riding on her shoulder.

"Remind me how I got into this again?"  
she said, picking up a jade-green one.

"Well, we needed someone else who  
could phase through sewer tunnels,  
and you don't hate us anymore,"  
Vagary said. "No way could I  
have rescued two dozen kittens  
before my superpower gave out."

The problem, of course, was that  
flooding in the cat room had --  
somehow -- allowed the kittens  
to float high enough to reach  
vents that accessed parts of  
the older infrastructure though  
some circuitous route that  
nobody had managed to trace.

So Calliope and Vagary had  
to search for them by wafting  
through layers of dirt and brick.

At the thickest places, they  
held hands and swam through  
solid stone as if it was water,  
their energy trying to melt into  
each other as they worked.

Finally they made it back to the lab.

"... twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four,  
and that's the last of them," Calliope said  
as she offloaded her final catch.

"Thank you," said Vidal Darden.  
It was his lab, what was left of it  
under the knee-deep water.

His assistant Aquiles Casales  
slogged around, placing each  
of the mewing kittens into  
carriers and stacking them.

"I thought your unit had  
better sense than this,"  
Calliope said, watching.

"They're not members,  
just occasional allies,"  
Vagary said. "This isn't  
one of our labs, but we'd  
rather not see anyone drown."

"Are you going to turn us in  
to the cops?" Vidal asked. "This  
is Louisiana, they'll eat us alive."

"No, I'm going to report you  
to Animal Welfare," said Calliope.  
"What possessed you to put  
a lab in a _flood zone?"_

"She's got us there,"  
Aquiles muttered.

"It was all that I could  
afford," Vidal confessed.

"God save us all from  
broke supervillains,"  
Calliope said, rolling  
her eyes. "Time to go."

Then of course, the door  
didn't want to open  
because of the water.

"Fuck it," Calliope said.  
She grabbed Vagary  
and phased through.

She was tired, cranky,  
and smelled like wet fur.

Walking back to the car,  
she tried to forget the feel  
of damp kitten paws against  
her skin and Vagary's molecules  
sliding through her unformed self.

**[Monday, November 2, 2015]**

It was Calvin who opened the door  
for Vagary this time, not Calliope.

Vagary was a little startled.

He knew that Cal worked at  
the craft store _en homme,_ but  
usually switched as soon as  
possible on the way home.

"Feeling butchy today?"  
Vagary wondered.

Calvin laughed. "No,  
but I need the muscles,"  
he said. "Something pried up  
the wire mesh in my flowerbeds,  
and squirrels got into my tulip bulbs.  
So I need to replace a lot of them."

He pointed out the back door  
to a pile of bags. Some held  
compost and wood mulch.

"The Van Den Broeck tulips are  
early bloomers in pastels and have  
all different shapes. The Rembrandts  
bloom mid-season in pastel stripes.  
The Monets are late bloomers in  
orange, yellow, and white," he said.

"Want some help?" Vagary offered.  
"It looks like a pretty big job."

"Three beds, so yeah,"  
Calvin said. "Thanks."

They went to the back yard,  
where Calvin showed Vagary  
which flowerbeds needed work.

The carnage was pretty clear,  
though -- the squirrels had left  
tulip fragments in their wake.

The new flowers were all  
in Calliope's pale colors rather  
than Calvin's deeper ones,  
to go with the pigeon color  
of the house and its decor.

Calvin didn't seem to mind.

Vagary enjoyed spending  
time with him, which they  
didn't get to do very often.

There was an ease to Calvin  
and Vagary that wasn't there  
with Calliope, at least not yet.

After all, it had been Calliope  
and not Calvin that Vagary  
had originally tangled with  
and kidnapped and pissed off.

Vagary wouldn't look a gift horse  
in the mouth. He was just glad  
to be here, working with Calvin  
in the autumn afternoon,  
planting a bunch of flowers

that Calliope would see in spring.

[To be continued ...]


End file.
